Living at home during your studies

Where you live while you study can have a direct impact on your university experience. Some students may choose to live in halls, while others may live with family or rent privately. We have a large commuting community at Kingston, with over 50% of our students choosing to live at home or off campus.

What to consider

  • Is living at home affordable based on the money you have access to? If you are a home student, under 25 and choose to live at home, you may have access to less funding from Student Finance. Please check the Student Finance Calculator.
  • Having your support network around you, and staying in your local area, can provide stability when commencing your studies. Enrolling at university is a big event, so you may find comfort in being in a familiar place, surrounded by people you know.
  • Decide whether you have sufficient physical and mental space to study whilst living at home. The university has campus libraries which are open 24/7 at certain times of the year.
  • Where you live will impact your student experience, to feel part of the community engage in our campus and online activities. You can also arrange to meet friends at the cafes, bars and common spaces on our campuses.

Commuting

We have facilities to support students commuting to university:

Free intersite buses

Our free intersite bus service connects you to all four of our campuses as well as to Surbiton and Kingston train stations. Free Wi-Fi is also available on all the buses, and we have a live bus tracker on our KU app so you can plan your day around classes and other commitments.

Free laptop loans

Our libraries offer a free laptop loan service to save you carrying your laptop back and forth on your commute. You can borrow a laptop for a maximum of 4 hours, up to 30 minutes before the library closes.

Microwaves

You can heat up any food from home in our microwaves and eat this in our common spaces.

Multi-faith spaces

All our campuses have multi-faith spaces open to students at times that suit their schedules.

Saving money on travel

If you are travelling from outside of London and studying full time you can get a 16-25 and 26-30 railcard that offers one-third off rail travel.

If you are a full-time student, and live in a London borough, you can apply for an 18+ Student Oyster photocard that enables you to get discounted travel on the Transport for London network. Please note: You must enrol on your university course before you can apply for the discount card.

Showers

Our campus maps show our fully equipped shower facilities at Roehampton Vale, Kingston Hill and Penrhyn Road campuses. They are accessible to all university students during campus opening hours.

Any questions?

Please get in touch if you have any queries for the accommodation team at Kingston University.